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Websense vs. PestPatrol

I would just like to get some opinions from those who've had experience with these programs...

When it comes to enterprise-wide spyware protection, which do you prefer? Websense or CA PestPatrol? I've been playing with evaluation versions of both and I'm having a hard time deciding which one to recommend for purchase.

I tried out PestPatrol, and it looks to a great job and scanning everyone on the network, especially with real time scans. However, the BIG problem I have with it is that each client machine has to cough up a massive amoung of memory to give to PestPatrol's remote services. Because of that, PestPatrol really slowed down our machines.

I'm impressed with Websense so far. Whereas PestPatrol is simply an antispyware solution, Websense is a comprehensive security package. However, I don't see much in the way of real-time spyware scanning like PP has. Websense seems to focus more on preventing malware from having access to the computer.

But I don't know much yet, since I've just been playing with the evaluation versions for the past couple of weeks.

Which program do you prefer and would recommend for an enterprise-wide solution?

Websense isn't designed to be a realtime spyware scanner. It's meant to show you exactly what's going on within your organization right down to the keystrokes entered by the end users. It's best used for policy enforcement.

However, I have found that Websense's protocol analyzer is extremely effective in identifying botnet infections. It also allows you to see how successful your spyware remediation has gone. You can look at the hitcounts and see if you're making any headway. This isn't a guarantee because we know that spyware will soon (if not already) be using encrypred connections over SSL to retrieve commands from the control server but again, Websense is a totally different solution than pest-patrol.

I'm the enterprise Websense admin (among other things) so if there is something specific you want to know, I'd be happy to answer.

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theHorse13 beat me to it. Websense is not meant to be a "real-time" spyware scanner like Pest Patrol but with a little tuning it can be very effective in that approach. What we have done is keep an updated block list of known spyware IPs along with trending such as theHorse13 mentioned. Websense combined with the newest release of Norton Enterprise Antivirus 10.0 (provides spyware eradication) has been fairly effective for us.

However, I have found that Websense's protocol analyzer is extremely effective in identifying botnet infections.

Looking at the real time analysis and web reporting for the first time, was the first time, I was able to get a clear snapshot of the overall posture of bots on the network. Excellent, worth the price of websense alone. Does Pest Patrol filter protocols as efficient as websense? Protocol based filtering/logging is another plus to websense. I also like the quota time function where you can loosen the strings a little but still effectively manage connections.

As mentioned even with Client Policy Manager (an option I did NOT pay for) Websense is not nearly an effective spyware prevention tool. I rely on McAfee for that at the present. But with wensense you KNOW who is infected and can act on those devices with amazing clarity as to what is going on.

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I absolutely HATE websense... but that is from the end user's point of view.

I have no admin control over ours...
I just know its good at its job. (Though, I have figured out many ways around it.)

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